1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a method for printing bottles or the like containers and to a device for carrying out the method.
2. Background Information
Background information is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily admit that subsequently mentioned information and publications are prior art. 
Furthermore, a print head is known that is determined for printing flat printing material and with which a plurality of printing points can be produced in one line closely adjacent to one another or at a very small distance from one another, for example, at least one hundred and fifty printing points per inch on a surface to be printed of the printing material, namely through a plurality of individually controllable single jets. The active printing width of this print head, which is also known by the name “Tonejet,” is possibly dependent on the capacity of the processing power of a computer to control the print head. Print heads of 1.7 to 6.8 inches printing width (corresponding to a 256 bit control or a 1024 bit control) are thus possible. With this print head the printing of a two-dimensional imprint with sufficiently large area through relative movement between the surface to be printed and the print head is possible in possibly only one axial direction.
It is often desired to apply closures, for example, bottle caps or screw tops, which have an imprint, for example in the form of an emblem, a brand or the like, on bottles or the like containers such that the imprint on the closure has a predetermined orientation with respect to the other equipment of the bottle or of the container, for example, with respect to one or more labels or other equipment  features.
In order to achieve this, it has already been proposed with a labeling machine for labeling bottles to align the bottles standing upright before the application of the labels by rotation about their vertical bottle axis such that when the bottles reach the labeling unit the imprint on the bottle closures respectively has a predetermined orientation so that then after the labeling the imprint on the bottle closures and the equipment formed by the labeling have the desired uniform orientation.
However, this approach may require an optical detection of the random orientation of the imprint, and a subsequent mechanical alignment or rotation of the bottles about their bottle axis, to which end, i.a., a relatively complex motor drive of a rotary table serving as a stand area of the bottle, with correspondingly complex control is desired.